Cup Watch

Coutts Capsizes AC45 in San Francisco

by MacDuff Perkins, Posted June 14, 2011

Winds in the mid-20s and a small craft advisory didn’t stop Jimmy Spithill and Russell Coutts from heading out to test sail their AC45s in San Francisco Bay on Monday, June 13th. Owned by Oracle Racing, both boats were preparing to head to Cascals, Portugal later this summer for the America’s Cup World Series. But in a dramatic explosion of wind, wave, and carbon fiber, Coutts’ buried

America's Cup World Series: Spithill Wins...Mostly

by Adam Cort, Posted July 1, 2012

Oracle’s Jimmy Spithill has won both the fleet portion of the racing at the Newport America’s Cup World Series regatta and the overall title for the 2011-12 America’s Cup World Series. But teammate and Oracle CEO Russell Coutts denied him all the glory by winning the match racing portion of the Newport regatta.

Unintended Consequences

by Kimball Livingston, Posted May 16, 2013

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. First the Kiwis and then the three other America’s Cup teams have all hit the water with daggerboards we might as well call hydrofoils, which lift their boats’ hulls clean out of the water on downwind legs, dramatically lowering resistance and increasing speed. But the AC72 rule was specifically intended to prevent that. Read my lips: No trimmable winglets.

Cup Watch - January 2007

by Sail Staff, Posted March 26, 2007

Time to EVOLVE?: Pressing for an America’s Cup circuitIf the sailors have their way, we could see a very different America’s Cup in the future. First we have to get through America’s Cup 32, this year in Valencia. And then?During the Allianz Cup, a World Match Racing Tour event sailed in October on San Francisco Bay, America’s America’s Cup challenger, Larry

Second Chance

by Kimball Livingston, Posted April 7, 2009

I see that various pundits are ruminating upon a course of sagacity, wisdom and compromise for our America's Cup antagonists, Misters Bertarelli and Ellison, urging them to come to terms and launch what both profess to be the goal, a match to match 2007.Well and good. I'll believe it when I see it.All Bertarelli had to do, at the end of the 32nd match for the America's

The Guts Behind the Gear

by Charles Mason, Posted February 18, 2010

Harken has been supplying gear to America’s Cup competitors since the early 1970s, and been providing the winch and hardware packages for both challenger and defender since the 1995 match. “As you would expect, the Cup match in Valencia was very interesting,” says Harken’s Global Manager, Mark Wiss. Harken supplied the batten car systems for all three masts BMW Oracle developed for their soft

America's Cup Teams Announced

by Sarah Eberspacher, Posted June 17, 2011

The 34th America’s Cup teams appeared together for the first time in San Francisco this week during a press conference to announce the line-up of competitors. Already down from the 15 teams that filed to compete by the April 1 deadline, eight arrived in the 2013 host city, with a ninth to be announced in Europe next week.New to the America’s Cup is the Republic of Korea, and

Cup Watch: Here Come the AC72s

by Kimball Livingston, Posted July 3, 2012

Hulls for Oracle Racing’s two AC72s, the second of which will launch next February, are being built in San Francisco. Wings for both are coming out of Core Builders Composites in New Zealand, where the team plans to move its first AC72 for winter training. T

America's Cup Safety Recommendations Updated

by Becca Oken, Posted May 23, 2013

In the wake of the death of America’s Cup Team Artemis sailor Andrew Simpson, regatta director Iain Murray has issued a list of 37 recommendations to be incorporated into the safety plan for the Summer of Racing.

Cup Watch - December 2006

by Sail Staff, Posted March 26, 2007

Hide and Seek: Spies come in from the coldAfter the 31st America’s Cup in 2003, when Alinghi snatched the trophy from Team New Zealand, the talk was all about spying, leaking, and under-the-table deals. The scene in Valencia, Spain, where the 32nd America’s Cup is being held, is happily different. The protocol set out between Alinghi, as defender, and BMW Oracle, as challenger